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Some good winds between Christmas and New Year here in SEQ. Decided to dust the cobwebs off the buggy and get the bearings turning.
Running Sysmic 2 Buggy with Midi XL tyres.
Kite- Ozone Edge V8 with 24m lines.
Location - Skirmish Point Bribie Island (Beach)

Today, Extreme Kites releases a World Kite Records section that allows us to look at the past whilst stepping in to the future.
The new World Kiting Records section is fully uniform with drag & drop uploads for your GPS images and optional GPS data. It's fully searchable with a set of filters allowing you to really drill down in to the information that has set each record. You can filter to find out whom the fastest pilots in your country are, perhaps you want to know what the top speed set on a GT-Race buggy is? Even better, what about finding out the top speed set on Discs with a Peter Lynn Vapor? All of this and more is either possible today, or within the next month as more information gets added to the database.
Previously we've all been limited to records being maintained in Wiki's, Forum Threads and Personal Blogs. The one thing that all of these inherited was that they are all up to an individual to maintain whether it was here in our Community or elsewhere. Instead we've built a system so that there's a whole team from today and forever in to the future maintaining a database of peoples' personal achievements.
This is just the beginning, last year we went through a whole site redevelopment explaining after years we had to finally take two steps back to be able to move forwards and bring you the type of online experience we wanted. We did this by launching the new website, then following on with sections like Blogs, Reviews etc. The Kite Buggy Speed section is just the first, over the coming weeks we'll include more sections along with other kiting disciplines like Landboarding, Kiteboarding, Kite Skates and Snowkiting. We aim over time, as a team to build the most comprehensive, searchable database of World Kiting Records available.
Kind Regards,

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The new season down under is upon us, so it's time to upgrade the website and launch a new section
Today I've done the basic upgrade, there's a few areas to fix and polish then I'll be launching a new section which will keep you hooked for hours

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Last season two of my passions intersected, flying drones and flying kites. I love power kites and i've been flying them for over 10 years now, however drones are a recent passion in the last 3 years that i've picked up and started to enjoy. I used to call them multi-rotors, but the mainstream public's declaration of calling them drones has now washed off on me. During our Kingston trip I finally had the opportunity to really intersect the two passions, and this year i'm hoping to take things a little further with my video production.

To start with i've purchased some Joby Gorillapods, and these things are really versatile. I was planning to review them, however I dislike unboxing reviews as they really don't prove much going down the path in terms of use for a product like a gorillapod. So i'll come back to reviewing them after i've had the opportunity to really use them. Initial thoughts however is that the large Gorillapod SLR-Zoom is a tank, it's solid. The Gorilapod magnetic, feels a bit like a fragile toy. The Joby ballhead feels solid, I would of liked a secondary type of safety on it in case it releases, however I'll just wrap the neckstrap around the legs for now.

Something else I picked up was the Pico Dolly, now this thing for product video etc is amazing. It's also incredibly amazing as a slider cam when you can't be bothered hauling a full 1.5M slider and setting it up on two tripods. All you need is a smooth surface, a walking path, a car bonnet, hard packed sand, anything that you can smoothly roll the wheels over and produce a cinematic sliding effect.

So the collection from last season has grown a bit, and here it is below.
I'm considering a DJI Osmo Mobile to use with the iPhone7 Plus, and a couple of additional SJCam's to mount on to people at the Extreme Kites meets.

PS: If you didn't see my video from last year here it is, I've refined a lot of techniques and learnt some new angles and ideas since then I hope to be able to reproduce in the next event video.

Thanks for reading, hit that like button if you enjoyed this blog entry so I know to add more!
Comment below if you think you would like me to create a couple of tutorials the gear, settings and how i use it for different results.

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Firstly a big thanks to ExtremeKites and especially Joel for sorting my prize out. Yes it was a real competition

Secondly apologies for the video, it's the first time I've had chance to get my phone hooked up to it and get some footage, so here it is unedited but it proves the kite does fly, wind was very lumpy and rain very imminent:

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Had a fair sized benign tumor removed from the base of my skull / top of my neck yesterday under a local anesthetic. Bit of a strange and slightly unpleasant experience talking and joking with the doctors and the medical student while they cut and burnt it out from the back of my head while I was face down on the operating table.

It was suppose to be a quick 30min cyst removal but when they went in they found out it was a bit of a bigger job than they thought so ended up taking about 1.5 hours and a bit more digging than expected. At least the medical student got a good lesson in how a simple job can change into a much bigger and complex one when you least expect it, along with a few pop quizzes along the way from the surgeons.

At least the bad headaches shold back off now and my helmet should be a bit more comfortable to wear once the wound heals up.

I guess the morale of the story is to get any suspicious lumps and bumps seen to sooner rather than later it might be a bigger issue than you or your doctor think.

Barber is going to freak out when I ask him to fix up this haircut though

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My computer has been going flat chat this week churning through gigs of photos for my latest pet project. The Time Lapse. I've messed around with it in the past but the last couple of weeks I've got really stuck into it putting together a series of time lapse sequences on and around home. Probably explains why I've been a little more quiet than usual on the forum too. The time lapses that I've been taking usually consist of finding something 'photo worthy' with some movement involved and setting the camera on my telescope tripod (it's usually pretty windy and the normal camera tripod is not up to the job) and configuring the camera for 300 - 500 shots with intervals of 3 - 6 seconds during the day and 25 seconds at night. Once I've got my shots they're imported into Adobe Lightroom where I can make adjustments to one photo and sync all the adjustments to the others, then export them back to a folder - the export of several hundred photos can take the software close to an hour to do. From there they're imported to Panolapse so I can add a little motion and set the frame rate to 25fps so I end up with a 10 - 20 second clip. Then they're imported into my video editor (which also has to be set for 25fps otherwise things start getting jumpy) and the clips are organized and put together. It's turning out to be a pretty time consuming process but I'm finding it fascinating. Some of the stuff I've seen on the internet is unbelievably good and while my stuff is not shaping up anything like that, I'm enjoying it non the less and it should give a nice look around my property and surrounding hills. Animals look pretty funny when shot in time lapse and I've got a few sequences that have turned out good. Stars are also a good subject picking up aeroplanes and satellites. For night time stuff I shoot in RAW format with the ISO set to 3200 and a 20 second exposure with a wide angle lens. There's a lot of post image manipulation and noise reduction to get the images smooth but it's something that I cannot do with a video camera. Here's a sneak at one of the night sequences. This is on a normal camera tripod in a bit of wind and you can occasionally see a bit of shakiness.

I should be close to finishing the project later this week and I'll post it here.

I start off by copying all my video files onto an external hard drive. I have 10 files from the SJ 5000 cam (should have turned the image stabilization off as it hates being mounted to the buggy). Joel very kindly has given me the drone files from the first few flights, so another 6 files from there. 15 .mov files from my SLR. 47 files from my hand held gopro and 42 files from the ION Air Pro mounted on the back of the buggy.

Once that's copied over, I view them in Xilisoft Splitter and cut the bits I want for the videos. Some for a Longstar Video, some for a Peak 2 video and some for an A & B Kingston Video. I had decided earlier that I wanted a couple of Kingston videos - one with more time lapse sequences and some nice celitc music and the other a bit faster. Another big time waster is I have to convert all the 2K drone files as my editor won't accept them. So once I split the bits I want from the drone files, they have to be converted back to something my editor will accept. (If I wasn't so scummy and updated my editor to the latest version then I wouldn't need to stuff around with the converter).

About 4 or 5 hours gone so far. Once I've got the split files I rename them all with things like 'A Joel funny dance' or B Doug behind claypan. That way I know which video they're going into and what the content is. I could do all this in the editor but then I'm dealing with large files with generic names and I get confused easily.

Meanwhile I'm thinking about what shots I want in various places in the video and what bits I want to slo-mo. Which is the next step - take all the long 20minute sunset or cloud files and speed them up in the editor. I can only speed up to 10x so a 20minute sunset becomes a 2 minute file. Still too long, so after rendering them, I re-import them into the editor and speed 'em up another 10x. I'm going to try and keep most of the clips in the video to under 10 seconds each - probably more like 6 or 7 seconds. Might depend a bit on the music.

Thinking about the music, there's a track I did with Que Decree in the 80's - a very silly piece of writing set to some good tempo rock music. Except I don't want the lyrics and I want to insert some slow bits into the music for the timelapse sequences. So I will have to re-record that. Which will involve programming the drums, then laying down the guitar, bass, keyboards then lead guitar in roughly that order. The other Kingston vid I'd like to use a Cara Dillon track that I quite like. The Peak and Longstar vids will get some tunes that I've already recorded.

Next I will take all the 'A' videos and put them into the editor. Working out the sequence is the tricky part. Then putting the music in and moving/cutting the endings to match the beat. Then I have to think about what titles/labels/names/descriptors to put in and how I want them to display. After that, I'll hit 'render' and have a watch and see if I want to go back and re-do anything. Things don't always turn out how I think they will and I'll often watch the vid and think 'meh, not what I'd hoped for'. Occasionally it comes together well and I'm pleased. Sometimes the music is all wrong and I have to go back and do a new soundtrack and re arrange clips to suit.

I've just about got all my clips organized and ready to put into the editor. With a bit of luck, some will start appearing in a few days time.....

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Once again, I found myself on the vast plains of Hardangervidda in Norway with kites all around me. We arrived Thursday morning after a 5-6-ish hour drive and before that, a 3 hour trip by boat and checked into the rented apartment. After an hours sleep we was ready to go check out the conditions, so we drove out on the plateau. The race is in the end of the season this means the day temperature often is just around zero degrees Celsius or even a few degrees above, this means the snow is more ice than powder, so once more I decided to go for skies rather than snowboard.
There was a lot of wind so I put up the 12 meter Peter Lynn Charger II and off I went. I tracked around 30 kilometers and hit a top speed of roughly 55 km/h – not too bad for a freestyle kite and a pilot who has never skied without a kite before (and not much with a kite actually as well.

After a bit of hassle, I managed to change my race class to skies and we went back to the apartment to get a good night’s sleep. Everything pointed toward the race would be held the next day and so we checked out gear one last time and hit the sack.

At the race meeting the next day what everybody seems to know already was confirmed; it was race day! A course consisting of 5 laps each measuring 20 kilometers (bee-line) surely would put even the best kiters to the test – and there was some serious kiters present, and then all us weekend warriors, heck even a few contestants who has just learned to kite a week before the race. The preliminary reports from the spot said up to 15 m/s (28-30 knots) and complete whiteout on the plateau, but was supposed to clear up. Around 300 kiters went out to pack their gear in the busses, needless to say you could cut the tension with a knife, everybody was super excited to see what was in store for us.

We managed to get on the first bus taking us to the spot and arrived with 1½ hour before the expected start. A quick reading and scouting of the area along with the session yesterday made me put up the 12 meter Peter Lynn Charger II and head out to check the starting area out. I was fully powered on, the sun was shining and the snow wasn’t as icy is yesterday, what a great day for a race. The wind was forecasted to be quite stable, with a small chance of getting just a wee bit higher, so I was confident I had chosen the right kite. The start was postponed one hour due to whiteout, not that we could see anything in the start area; the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky – a friendly reminder on how conditions can change up here. We decided to save our strength and only did a few quick runs, completing the course would mean at least 100 kilometers worth of snowkiting - that will take its toll on the body.

We was just about to set up the kites and find a good spot to await the horn, but then we heard the start was postponed another ½ hour. We went out for another scouting run, and it was quite clear the wind had dropped but I was still able to climb the mountains, so I decided to play it a bit safe, I knew from last year I could expect more wind on top of the mountains. Still I couldn’t shred the thought that I might have been better off putting up the 18 meter Peter Lynn Charger II, then again I could easily and quite fast change kites after the first round if that was needed – and surely I had enough wind to finish the first round.
Like last year I decided to start a bit in the back, being on a freestyle kite I was not competing with the race guys anyway – and I would rather not get tangle during the mayhem-to-be. The start was postponed yet another 15 minutes, oh how frustrating everybody could feel the wind was dropping, but there was no time to switch kites. Suddenly the yellow flag came up, 1 minute to start and everybody started slowly moving towards the line – then the horn sounded and bam 300 kite dropped in a massive powerstroke. It was on!

I soon found myself in the middle of the pack; there was kites everywhere I tell you. It might sound unlikely, but the only place there was any kites was on the ground in front of me – but what a relief. After a few hundred meters we found ourselves in a wind-hole so I had to work the kite a bit – not the easiest task with this many kites in the air, but I managed. I could see the first gate that – unlike last year – was placed on the flat and not on a mountain. Further ahead I could see a lot of kiters was struggling to keep the kites in the air, so I decided to go a few hundred meters past the gate before I turned. It turned out to be the right decision and I was heading up towards the second gate, after a minor incident where a guy dropped his kite in my lines and I had to relaunch it before I could get on. It’s a part of the game, and last year I was the guy who dropped my kite in somebody’s lines, so I guess it’s a karma thing.

Now the Red Bull guys like to challenge us and they didn’t disappoint us this year, just after the second gate we faced a very steep descent. Not something I was mentally prepared for, so I quickly decided to go and see if I could find a better route. I managed to find one and began my descent, but in a combination of excitement, adrenaline and inattention, I caught up with the kite and in dropped from the sky.

I had no other choice but to walk the lines, not the easiest task in knee deep snow on the side of a mountain, not to mention actually launching the kite there. But after a good 40 minutes I managed and let me tell you it felt good! The wind had dropped further, but the way to the third gate was a beam reach and I soon passed that as well. The race had been on for a good 1½ hour know and there was kites everywhere on the course, I decided to follow some of the closest kiters after all they might be on their second round and know the course by know. From the third to the fourth gate was nearly dead downwind and counting in a gentle descent from gate three, it’s not the worst situation when on skies, but I decided to tack down, I really didn’t feel like catching up with the kite and having to walk out the lines once more.

Down in the valley I made good speed, but only for a while, then the wind completely vanished, I mean just gone. I saw one of my mate’s kites on the ground; it looked like she was stranded as well. Oh well there was nothing to do than to walk up to the fourth gate and see if the struggle would be rewarded. All of a sudden, we could see a lot of kiters moving up the mountain towards the third gate, they came with the wind it would seem, clearly they also brought complete chaos. I counted at least three kiters who managed to completely block the gate with their kites/lines – obliviously not intentionally but quite unpractical. I decided the stay and help a bit; there was nowhere to launch my own kite anyway at the moment.

It didn’t take long before the guys ahead was once more having trouble keeping their kites in the air. I decided to take a slightly different route to be able to stay on the top of the ridge, it paid off and I managed to get a fair bit further than most of the guys. But eventually I couldn't even keep the kite in the air and I was once more stranded, the view as astonishing and I didn’t really feel like walking a few kilometers back to gate four. Once more I saw one of my mates, she manage to fight her way up to me and we hang out there for a few minutes – and all of a sudden the third mate’s kite was seen on the horizon. He started the race on a small 6 meter Peter Lynn Fury, but after the first round he then switched over to the 11 meter Peter Lynn Leopard.

Once more the wind picked up, another testimony on how quickly things can change up here. After a bit of fiddling with my lines I was up and on my way. Given the wind it actually went ok towards gate five, I was able to climb the mountain, since I only had a rough idea on where the gate was it was quite lucky I actually found it. I was nearly on the top of the mountain when I managed to crash the kite on the downwind side of the mountain, I thought for sure it would be close to impossible to relaunch there, this time around lady luck decided to smile at me. With close to no hassle the kite was in the air again – ok now where is that damn gate five? I decided to cross the mountaintop and in less than 50 meters was gate five, what a lovely sight. The rest of the way to the starting line was easily covered and I moved towards gate one.

What I didn’t knew was the cutover time was 18.00 and it was now 18.30 – ok well back to the start area and pack up. When I returned one of my mates waved vigorously at me yelling I missed gate six! Cutover time or not I decided to finish in style and pass the sixth gate. So disregarding the cutovertime I actually managed to finish one round this time around. I didn’t bring and water or food on because I was expecting to finish one lap in one hour, and not 4½ hours, so the water and Red Bull was highly appreciated.

I have secured my spot for Red Bull Ragnarok 2016, this time I expect to be using my Flysurfer Speed 4 Lotus and actually finish the entire damn race :-)

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So in a not too distant past tattooing (And body art in general) was the mark of sailors and criminals – if we for a minute ignore the fact that Frederick IX of Denmark (1899 – 1972) was quite tattooed for a royalty – and didn’t mind showing it off in the interview with the American magazine LIFE. But then again he was educated in the Royal Danish Navy so one could argue the part about sailors still holds true J

Frederick IX of Denmark was quite tattoed and not shy of showing it.

Within the last 20-30 years’ tattoos has become more and more mainstream. I fair guess would be that you can’t be in a room with 4 (adult) people in Denmark without at least one of them has ink somewhere on their body. A fair question would be to ask why it has gotten all this traction within a relative short timeframe? No doubt the Danish king’s approval of tattoos had a big impact in the field. He even formulated the current law on tattooing in Denmark, short and simple one is not allowed to tattoo anybody below the legal age of 18 and one is not allowed to tattoo hands, neck and head. Beyond that everything goes – and since there’s not much regulation one can buy the gear and call themselves a tattoo artist (Not unlike everybody can buy a kite and call themselves a kitesurfer – or worse a kitesurf instructor) in Denmark.

Around 1990 it became more and more acceptable to get a tattoo, when I got my first tattoo a few days after my 18 years’ birthday in 1998 (A biohazard sign – don’t even ask) it still wasn’t very common to see them out in the open – unless you frequented the more shady part of town – or the skatepark J

Now everybody has them – and gladly shows them off in public. We’re talking every layer of the society from the homeless guys on the corner to the TV host to politicians.

For the last 10 year I’ve grown older, perhaps even a bit wiser and my piercings are long gone. It’s not for the lack of wanting to get another piece, I simply have prioritized other stuff (Like kite gear) – and having to stop surfing for a month on order not to ruin the new tattoo didn’t appeal to me. But when I a year ago was forced to take close to ½ a year’s break from anything kite related I decided to get another one I’ve been eyeing for a few years. It’s a piece from an artist called Derek Hess – his work is quite unique and it’s certainly not for everybody, but isn’t that always the case with art? A week ago I got another one – since it’s winter in Denmark and bloody cold (down to -10 degree) I don’t really feel like surfing anyway J

The one on the right arm (Left in the picture) is the new one, "Boo boo angel".

On the left (Right on the picture) is the one that's a year old now, hemorrhage with some lyrics from the Nightwish song "She's my sin"

Time will tell if I’ll grow tired of them, I know the two I got 10-12 years ago aren’t the prettiest nor the most original ones, but them remind me of my youth and being on my shoulder and lower leg they’re covered most of the time anyway. They’re a part of me and a part of my story and I’ll keep it that way…

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I was first bit by the bug some 7 years ago in 2010. My wife and I were on vacation in FL, and a local kite shop had an advertisement in the tourist paper for a free 1 hour kiteboarding lesson. I called them up, and they met me at the beach with a B3 trainer kite. As soon as they put the bar in my hands I was hooked. I couldn't believe the power the kite was able to generate- and I was even more amazed at how much control I had over it. Growing up, like most people, my only real experience with kites was with the basic one string kites, over which you had essentially no control. The idea that I could harness mother nature with a kite just grabbed a hold of me, and it hasn't let go.

The following year we were back on vacation and I was taking my first lessons with that same kite shop, XL kites, in Destin, FL. Those guys are terrific if you're ever down in the area. Those early days were rough. I was impressed with the power of the trainer kite the year before, but I was terrified of the power that a 13m Crossbow could generate. I can remember being so completely exhausted after my first lesson, not from the physical exertion, but from the constant adrenaline that was coursing through my body as I was sure I'd get ripped up into the sky at any moment. All that control I felt with the trainer kite was gone. Depower was a whole new world, and I had to put my time in.

That same year I bought my first kite (a 10m Griffin Argo - which I really love - bought another one a few years later, 14m). I did most of my riding in FL because where I live in NY it's very expensive to pay the local shops to get to the good (read safe and shallow riding areas for beginners), and if you've ever been to FL in the summer you know the wind isn't great. So, I spent most of my first few years struggling to keep the kite in the air, and getting a few rides here and there.

Summer of 2014, I purchased a used Spleene Door and that board changed my life. All of a sudden, the light FL winds were enough to get riding, and I did more riding in a few days that summer than I had in the previous 4 years.

Last summer, my wife and I bought a small used boat to get access to some great local riding spots here in NY, and now I feel like a real kiteboarder. I spent hours on end skimming along the surface of the water propelled only by the wind this summer, and I can't wait to get back in the water next year. It's been quite a ride, and for me, a pretty steep learning curve, but in the end it's all been so worth it.

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A couple or 3 weeks ago I came back to my place in Steiglitz after being away in Moorwell and had just finished emptying the car and started preparing some food for the ducklings,

when I became aware of one hell of a lot of nosie coming from the direction of the afore mentioned. So I went to investigate the reason for the racket, from a distance I first thought (wishfully) that I'd got a new kite, but on closer inspection this is what I found.

not a kite but a brown Goshawk, exactly where it shouldn't be, so I run of to get gloves, a sack and the camera. when I got back the hawk was trying to get dinner (duckling) but mum was keeping it at bay and drove the hawk away.

The hawk went in for the kill again and this time mummy duck jumped on it forcing the hawk on to it's back locking as if it was playing dead, at which point I garbed the hawk and ejected it back to the wild.

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One of my other past times is smoking and / or grilling. Not unlike kiting I have 3 grills for different situations. I have a smokey joe which is small and good for tailgating, a 22" weber which is the most common size, and a 26.5" weber which is uncommon and reserved for the serious charcoal grillers. The 26.5" doesn't sound much bigger than the 22" right? If you do the math, it actually has 45% more cooking area so it's a welcome addition to your grilling inventory if your looking to cook larger items or cook for a large group.

One of the accessories I have for the 26.5" weber is an accessory called the Smokenator. It's not available at any stores locally and has to be ordered where I'm from. It consists of a stainless steel piece that retains the charcoal and wood chips and has a stainless steel container that you fill with water to keep the meat from drying out as it smokes. It also has a rack so you can increase your cooking surface by roughly 30% I would guess. They make it in 3 sizes for the 18", 22", 26.5" weber grills. This accessory is actually not a necessary item for indirect heat or smoking as you can still move the coals to one side and get nearly the same effect but it does make it nicer and reduce the chances of charring the meat on the heat side.

Pictured are racks of pork spare ribs with the rip tip portion cut off and smoked separately which basically turns the rack of ribs into what we call St Louis style ribs.

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Works well in most wind directions and has a wind sock fitted as it's also home to the local helipad for emergency retrieval helicopters. Only downside is the houses and power lines that surround the perimeter. Quite a large area. In winter there are some soccer goals usually semi-permanently fixed.

2. Henwood Park Oval,

Good for easterlies. Also OK for southerlies. Park is flanked by houses and powerlines to be aware of.

3. Frenches Fields

Good for westerlies. Not a huge flying area but OK for static flying. Grounds have powerlines and houses on most of the perimeter.

4. Rawlings Park.

Good to try in Northerlies. The grounds occupy a large space but have large gum trees surrounding the perimeter from most other wind directions.

5. Lake Albert Foreshores.

Works well for static flying in West or South Westerlies. Council has planted heaps of gum trees which will make this flying area less appealing as they grow.

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Presently the GKC in a caretaker role, the most recent recorded meeting of the GKC was late 2014 and a brief followup during March 2015 to touch base on the present situation. The aim for 2016 is to finalise the club's position, bring forward all current and outstanding paperwork, present a public record of accounts, publish past meeting minutes directly to this page and digitise as much as possible of the club's history to keep for future posterity.

Meetings over the past 18 months from a group of past members viewed that this continued to be the best way forward in anticipation to see the direction of land kiting in the state. In the event we see grown over the next 12 to 24 months then the move to rebrand and move forward with the new club honoured, in the event that numbers aren't sufficient a move to deregister the club and present a vote to the final year's members on what path to dispose of the club's financials and physical assets would be made. Goshen ex-committee member attempted to circumvent the vote of the group in a letter effectively attempting to wind up the club, the committee needs to discuss the contents of this letter then release correspondence.

Photos of past GKC Fly Days have started appearing in the "Events" gallery.

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We had another great day kiting at Thirteenth Beach last week, Doug(@igeighty), John(@jhn.holgate), Shane(@OBEwan), Michael(@Mik333), Richard(@the_hatman) and myself. I'd shifted the tow point of my hotwire further back and it made such a difference, the buggy felt really good this time.

Towards the end of the day I'd been finding it difficult to see much of anything, and at one point I nearly ran over the hatmans upturned buggy laying in the middle of the beach and the hatman nowhere in sight, I think he'd been ripped out of his buggy and gone scurrying up the hill to rescue his kites before they ended up on the road. I saw him walking back to our launch area towing a buggy in one hand and a mess of broken kites and tangled lines tucked under the other arm.

I'd never been to thirteenth beach before, from what I'd heard i was expecting it to be harder to access the beach, but many hands make light work. Thanks to all you guys for getting me on and off the beach. John came prepared with ropes and pulleys, a couple of you pushing, another 2 of you pulling on the pulley system John rigged up, I just sat back in the buggy and enjoyed the ride! I wanted to go back and do it again, but the guys wouldn't have a bar of it.

Afterwards we enjoyed a meal at the Barwin Heads hotel, a good feed at the pub is always a great way to end a days kiting. After the pub i jumped in the car an began driving home to Port Lincoln.

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I'm in the development stage of making a dogstake to fly my kites through. Dogstake I hear you say. It's where you fly your kite with the strings looping around a pulley so you are facing the back of your kite. Like line bending but with a specific piece of kit. It's not a new concept, was first introduced by Lee Sedgewrick in the late '80s. I have been doing line bending using the soccer goals at the park across the road from my place. But looped around a pole is far from ideal. Hence the idea to make a dogstake. Or rather, to make up a set of pulleys to attach to a dogstake and use that.

I got some pulleys that are pretty good but short of making the trek to a sail hardware wholesaler the D shackles have been a bit of a pain. I need the extra wide mouth to accommodate having 2 pulleys per shackle. Think I'll have to bunk out of work early and trek to Whitworths or bite the bullet and pay for delivery.

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Mad Way Mongolia Wrap UpWe have done almost twice the distance we set out to do and done about 1500km upwind, the route for the next trip will need to be longer and more ambitious. The wide open plains of the Eurasian steppes are great for high speed and long distance but I miss the challenge of crossing high mountain passes like we had on the 2014 trip.We spend 3 days in Holangol, its hard to stop after so many days of nomadic life. We are using our unloaded buggy's with the electric drive to get around town. We eventually pack up the buggy's and ship them to some friends in China for storage. We catch a train back to Beijing, Joe's off to Canada and im working in China for a few weeks.The buggy's have done over 5000km counting last years trip, the only trouble we have had is worn out brake pads and some bent panniers. The kites have taken a flogging, we ran out of repair tape long ago and they are covered in medical tape, we have broken many lines and bridles but they are still going strong.

We traveled 3693 km in 49 daysWe walked about 50km mostly to get to food or waterWe motored 15kmFastest speed 75kph using the 4m uniqLongest day 232 kmWe only had one day without wind.

I would like to thank 2C for the handy solar powered light caps to use and give away. solarlightcap.comBikelights for the powerful night lights. bikelights.co.nzCactus Outdoor for the tough canvas thorn resistant supertrousers. cactusoutdoorSalcom technologies for the Inreach satellite communicator. salcom.co.nzAshburton Powdercoating.Goods saddlery Ashburton for the seats.